Navaids

The files in this folder all take a very similar format, but there are a few slight differences and some specifics to know about the various different files for fixes.

Note that for any RNAV fixes specific to an airport (RNAV approaches/RNAV1 SIDs), please see this entry.

FIXES_*

These take the format of a 5 character fix name, followed by a 10 digit coordinate format.

e.g. AGPED N055.07.18.900 W001.56.57.150

FIXES_General RNAV

This file contains all fixes related to mapping out conventional SIDs/STARs. These are NOT the same as airport specific RNAV points, which are generally contained in Airports\EG**\Fixes.txt - e.g. fixes such as KKE38, on the BIG2X SID from EGKK. If fixes for a SID, STAR, or RNAV approach are defined on their respective charts for a specific airport, then they should be defined in the Fixes.txt file in the right airport folder.

For conventional SIDs, updating of these fixes requires a little more effort. First, one requires a form of navdata - the following extract is taken from the EGKK proc file from the Navigraph data for the Aerosoft Airbus:

SID,CLN5P,08R,2 CA,0,78.0,2,710,0,0,0,0,0,0,
CF,D077C,51.161892,-0.094025,0,BIG,205.6,11.3,78.0,2.0,2,1210,0,0,0,0,0,0,
CF,TUNBY,51.168889,0.324722,0,BIG,132.6,14.6,90.0,15.0,1,5000,0,0,0,0,0,0,
TF,DVR31,51.168342,0.538342,0, ,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,
CF,DET,51.304003,0.597275,1,DET,0.0,0.0,5.0,6.0,1,5000,0,0,0,0,0,0,
TF,D014E,51.385014,0.627767,0, ,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,1,6000,0,0,0,0,0,0,
TF,DAGGA,51.821944,0.794167,0, ,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,
TF,CLN,51.848472,1.147589,0, ,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,1,6000,0,0,0,0,0,0,

• Using this, the CLN5P routing is defined as D077C TUNBY DVR31 DET D014E DAGGA CLN
• To define D014E we take the 51.161892,-0.094025 and enter it into the 'coordinates:' field on this page, and click execute.
• Then take the output under DMS - which in this case is 51° 23´ 6.05" N 0° 37´ 39.961" E.
• Fiddle about to turn it into... N051.23.06.050 E000.37.39.960 (I like nice round numbers so 961->960)

FIXES_Lat Lon

Unless our method for splitting the world up into latitudes and longitudes changes, these fixes will remain unchanged. Forever.

FIXES_Non-UK

The files in this folder hold fixes nearby to, but outside of, the UK FIRs. Not all fixes in the neighbouring FIRs are included for brevity. However all significant fixes (including usually those associated with an agreement or sectorisation) that are relevant to UK controllers should be. These don't all come from one document and some fixes are definied with different precisions in the various countries' AIPs, so we use the order of preference that UK fixes are definied in FIXES_UK only, then others in the order Norway > Netherlands > France > Ireland > Belgium > Other as this seems to typically result in the more precise definition being used.

FIXES_Old

These are usually related to old agreements or old (commonly used) airways, that it might still be worth having in the sector file for the near future. Though eventually they can be removed... and there is no hard and fast rule as to when this should be!

FIXES_PHONETIC

I'm not really sure where these are from (says @hsugden)... but they shouldn't need to be changed!

FIXES_UK

This should be an exact representation of ENR 4.4 (Name-code Designators for Significant Points) - any fix that needs to be kept, perhaps for withdrawn SIDs, should be moved to FIXES_Old.

NDB_All

These follow the format of:

• 2 or 3 character NDB designator
• 3 or 4 spaces (for 2 or 3 character designators respectively)
• 6 digit frequency
• 10 digit lat/long coordinates
• Comment of NDB name

e.g. ALD 383.000 N049.42.31.961 W002.11.58.920 ; Alderney

Some will be in ENR 4.1 (Radio Navigation Aids - En-Route), and some also in neighbouring FIRs.

VOR_Non-UK / VOR_UK

Both files follow the format of...

• 3 character VOR / DME / VOR(DME) designator
• 6 digit frequency
• 10 digit lat/long coordinates
• Comment of VOR / DME / VOR(DME) name

e.g. BCN 117.450 N051.43.32.000 W003.15.47.000 ; Brecon

Some will be in ENR 4.1 (Radio Navigation Aids - En-Route), and some also in neighbouring FIRs.